Sensex snaps 2-day losing streak; recovers over 150 points

 Mumbai:The BSE Sensex recovered over 173.33 points in opening trade on Monday on sustained buying in recently battered stocks amid strength in the rupee.

The 30-share Sensex, which lost 340.78 points on Friday, recovered by 173.33 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 33,522.64. Positive trend appeared in some sector led by Infra and Auto, while mixed movements were seen in the banking stocks.

The NSE Nifty too edged up by 44.25 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 10,074.25. Meanwhile, the rupee recovered by 14 paise to 73.33 against the US currency in early trade on Monday.

The 30-share index Friday tumbled 340.78 points to end at seven-month low of 33,349.31, while the broader NSE Nifty had slipped 94.90 points to 10,030.00.

In the Sensex pack, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, M&M, Sun Pharma, Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto, HeroMotocorp and Maruti were major gainers. Among losers were TCS, Bharti Airtel, Coal India, HDFC, HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank.

In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei was trading 0.50 per cent up, while Shanghai Composite index fell 1.47 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.02 per cent.

However, Taiwan was up 0.14 per cent in their early sessions. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.19 per cent lower on Friday.

On a net basis, foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 1,356.66, while domestic institutional investors bought shares to the tune of Rs 1,875.89 crore on Friday, provisional data showed.